Another Perspective
by Valerina
Summary: The big boss man wins a pool.


ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE by Valerina  
  
Rated PG  
  
Summary: The big boss man wins a pool  
  
Spoilers: An itty bitty Bad Blood reference-you will get extra credit if you find it!  
  
Archive: Yes, please! Definitely Gossamer, and anyone who wants it just lemme know where.  
  
Classification: MSRish, H  
  
Disclaimer: Please. If you think I own 'em, then there is something seriously wrong with your head, and you should definitely get it looked at.  
  
AN: First off, this story was written once upon a time, (under the pen name Lara—which is how you'll find it at Gossamer) when XF still rocked my world…I'm reposting this in honor of the XF Finale. To times gone by…Oh, and this fic is a follow up to my first story, Perspective. It is NOT a sequel, so you definitely don't need to read it to get this. But please do, it's a lovely little story :)  
  
FEEDBACK: Um, pretty please? Valerina719@HOTMAIL.COM  
  
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Assistant Director Skinner leaned back in his chair and set his feet up on the desk. He shot a quick glance at his wrist just in time to see that he had been at work for exactly five minutes. He sighed and looked around his office trying to find something to occupy his mind. Unfortunately, his office walls were bare except for the few portraits of high-ranking political figures. Skinner quickly thought about playing pin the nose on Janet Reno, but he dismissed it just as quickly.  
  
He began to drum his fingers against the desk, which soon evolved into full- fledged air drumming of the newest Metallica song. Just as Skinner was getting into his groove, the intercom buzzed. "Nuts," Skinner muttered, "always at the good part." He pushed down on the button and growled, "Yes?"  
  
Kimberly's voice came on in a monotone that showed she was none too intimidated by her boss. "Sir, I have that...personnel report that you requested." Skinner brightened. This was his favorite time of the day. He wondered why she was bringing her report to him this early. What the hell was he supposed to do to amuse himself for the rest of the day?  
  
"Come in," he called to his secretary. Kimberly opened the door slowly, and entered stiffly carrying a large folder, looking every bit the professional assistant. She closed the door softly before smiling broadly at her boss.  
  
"Boy do I have some news for you, sir!" Skinner leaned back in his chair, anticipating some amusing anecdote about some of the more troublesome agents in his charge. Kimberly flopped into one of the chairs facing Skinner's desk and made herself comfortable. "Well," she leaned in conspiratorially, "Agent Green and Jackie from the secretary's pool have split up! And we think it's for real this time..."  
  
Skinner's eyebrow shot up. Well, he thought, this was interesting. Those two had been together for quite some time, but they broke up about as regularly as Skinner had to discipline Special Agent Fox Mulder. Skinner's raised eyebrow encouraged Kimberly to continue with her story.  
  
"Anyway, he was seen with Agent Kathy Wood at Casey's bar down the street..." Skinner smirked as Kimberly continued on with her "personnel report." Twenty minutes later Skinner sat alone in his office again, wondering what to do with the rest of his day. He took out his planner from the top drawer and opened it to the present day. Nothing, nada, zip. He sighed. If only Scully and Mulder were on some case. Then, at least, he'd have a good laugh. Yeah, Scully...  
  
He sat lost in thought about one of the most attractive female agents under him. He snickered at the unintentional joke. It was too damn bad that she was practically attached at the hip, brain, and every other major organ to her partner. Well, Skinner amended, not every organ. At least, not according to the gossip mills. Truth be told, he was getting a little bit annoyed with the two of them. After all, they'd been partnered together for practically six years, and nothing! Not even one little kiss. Sure, Skinner thought, he had heard little tidbits about the far and few between moments of tenderness between the two agents, but other than that absolutely nothing.  
  
Skinner rolled his eyes as he thought about how funny the two of them were. He didn't have to go home and watch his collection of Oprah episodes to know that there were some deeply repressed feelings on both sides. He supposed that the fact that the FBI frowned upon romantic relations between employees could be blamed for the relative unhappiness of his two best agents, but let's be realistic. Judging from Kimberly's laundry list of involved couples in Skinner's department alone, no one took that rule seriously.  
  
Skinner glanced once more at his planner to confirm the date. Yep, he nodded to himself, it was the fifteenth of the month. His chance to make some major money had passed yet again, two days ago. Skinner snorted. Who was he kidding? He never even had a chance. The two of them were so hell bent on not admitting their feelings for each other that he and every other agent, secretary, and section chief who were waiting for that crucial moment when Mulder and Scully would finally jump each other's bones would never see their money again.  
  
The intercom buzzer startled Skinner and he almost fell out of his chair. Regaining his composure, he hit the button and growled "Yes," into the receiver.  
  
Kimberly responded undaunted, "Sir, Agent Bob Mack is here to see you." Even though Kimberly  
  
spoke evenly and calmly, there was an underlying sense of excitement in her voice. Skinner was interested enough to tell her to send hi in in five minutes, the absolute minimum amount of time he made agents wait.  
  
Skinner opened up his drawer and took out the obligatory stack of papers and pens that agents expected to see on his desk. He twirled the pen around in his fingers as he spread out the papers on his desk in an effort to mask the fact that he had done absolutely nothing that morning.  
  
The door opened and in walked a tall, middle-aged man who was smiling broadly. "Take a seat, Agent Mack. What brings you here today?"  
  
Bob cleared his throat and said, "Well, sir, I won a coin flip." Skinner arched his eyebrow and motioned for the man to continue. "Sir, it is my pleasure to present you with this." He pulled out an extremely large wad of cash from his jacket pocket and plopped it down on the AD's desk.  
  
"What the hell is that?" Skinner demanded.  
  
"That, sir, is the pot."  
  
Skinner smiled slowly. "Are you telling me that Mulder and Scully have finally..."  
  
Bob nodded enthusiastically. "Yes sir, I saw it with y own two eyes." Skinner sat back down in his chair.  
  
"Details, Agent Mack, I want details." Bob proceeded to tell his boss everything he and his friends had witnessed Friday night, from the loud fight to the soggy make up. Skinner listened reverently, mentally taking notes to share with Kimberly later.  
  
"I just have one question, Agent Mack: Why the hell did you wait until today to let me know?"  
  
Bob looked at Skinner's rapidly diminishing smile and started scrambling for a good enough excuse to give his boss. Ultimately his four years of higher education lost out to the mind-numbing stare of his superior. "Well, uh, I didn't' want to bother you on the weekend, sir. I...I...I mean, the kiss occurred right around midnight, and well, we were all...less than sober, and well, it just seemed best to wait until Monday morning, sir." He stammered out.  
  
Skinner sighed and waved his hands dismissively. He stared pensively out the window as Bob shifted nervously in his seat. Skinner snapped his attention back to the agent in front of him. "Thank you for bringing this...interesting information to my attention, Agent Mack." Skinner smiled and reached for one of the twenty-dollar bills sitting on his desk. He gave it over to the agent, "Here you go, Agent Mack, take your friends out for a drink on me."  
  
Bob took the bill and shoved it in his pocket as he stood up to leave. "Thank you very much sir, and congratulations." As soon as Bob left the room, Skinner counted to thirty before calling in Kimberly.  
  
He chuckled as he imagined her writhing in her desk chair, wondering what Agent Mack had told him. Finally, he decided to put the poor woman out of her misery and pushed down the intercom button. Before he could say a word, the office door burst open and Kimberly rushed in with her pen and paper in hand.  
  
"Kimberly, you're never gonna believe this..." Once the story had been told and Kimberly had her own written copy to keep her awake at night, Skinner sat back in his chair, alone yet again and staring at the four walls. The phone caught his eye and he picked up the receiver. He gave Kimberly the order to buzz Mulder's office, but there was no answer. Skinner frowned. He knew they weren't on a case right now, so where could they be?  
  
He called Scully's cell phone, but only got James Earl Jones telling him that the cell phone he was calling was turned off. He started to worry and called Mulder's cell phone and then Scully's home number in quick succession, but got the same result. "Shit," Skinner muttered. What the hell had they got into this time? He was always the last to know, at least with these two.  
  
He was about to check after the through "unofficial channels" when he realized Mulder's place was still unchecked. Though what they'd be doing at that dive was beyond his comprehension. He sighed and tried the number anyway. As he listened to the ringing on the other end, he was hurriedly making a mental list of everything he was going to do with his pile of winning. Just as he had decided that he really didn't need that Abroller, the phone picked up.  
  
"Hello?" came the female voice, husky with sleep. Skinner sat in shocked silence. "Hello?" the voice demanded again, still insistent yet much more alert. Skinner sat absolutely still without making a noise, now knowing with absolute certainty who he was talking to. The voice became impatient and addressed the caller once more.  
  
"Creep," she muttered before slamming the phone down in Skinner's ear. Finally Skinner couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out into loud, raucous laughter. He shook with the force of it and tears began to stream down his face.  
  
The intercom buzzed. "Sir?" Kimberly asked. "Are you all right?" All Skinner could do was snort. Oh yeah, everything was all right with the world, he thought, and at this very moment across town Dana Scully was crawling back into bed with Fox Mulder. All right, indeed.  
  
  
  
end.  
  
*****  
  
Okay, that's it, go home!  
  
But wait--tell me what you thought. I even welcome flames, if you dare...:) Hell, just tell me if you read it! Valerina719@HOTMAIL.COM 


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